Congressman Steve King. (file photo)
Republican Congressman Steve King says there are a number of words to describe what happened last Thursday when the leading candidate to replace out-going House Speaker John Boehner withdrew from the race.
“There was turmoil and there was a bit of chaos and there was an amount of sadness and there were an amount of emotions that flowed back and forth and there was confusion and misunderstanding,” King says.
King is supporting Florida Congressman Daniel Webster to be the next speaker of the House.
“Hopefully he becomes the next speaker of the House in the next few days or a couple of weeks,” King says. “But in any case, (Webster) has laid down the parameters on how to restructure this House.”
On Friday, Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan responded to pressure and announced he would consider running for speaker of the House.
“Paul is no doubt a capable individual and he has broad support in the conference,” King says. “Whether it’s broad enough to win the speakership in there, I think that’s a hard thing to guess after watching how Kevin McCarthy’s broad support, some of it, apparently disappeared.”
Some Republicans have suggested “the crazies” like King have damaged the Republican brand by undermining the current House leadership team, but King says he won’t respond to that. King contends the House may wind up functioning better as a result of this fight.
“If we respond to the voice of the people, we’re going to be better. We’re going to be better respected,” King says. “If this dip goes down a little bit longer and we come out of it better, we’ll be rewarded for that rather than punished.”
King is hoping a leadership vote is scheduled sooner rather than later, although the House is not meeting this week.
“By the time we come back in another week, I think we’ll be ready to take some action,” King says.
King made his comments Friday during an appearance on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal.